Homelessness

Recent statements in this category are shown below:

Summary: Miss C complains about the way the Council dealt with her approach to it about threatened homelessness. In particular, she complains about the conduct of an officer who interviewed her. The Ombudsman does not have the evidence to uphold the complaint about what happened in the interview. But we uphold a complaint that the Council did not refer Miss C's contact on for a homeless assessment.

Summary: Miss B complains about the Council's lack of housing help when she and her two children were made homeless. Miss B says the Council offered her unsuitable interim accommodation which resulted in her sleeping in a tent, and did not accept the main housing duty. The Council was not at fault for the matters Miss B complains about and it was reasonable for Miss B to use her review and appeal rights to challenge the Council's decision. But, the Council should have offered Miss B short term accommodation when it made its decision on her homelessness application. The Council has agreed to now make this offer. So, we have completed our investigation.

Summary: There was fault by the Council. It decided that Miss B was not threatened with homelessness but it did not tell her that she had a right to ask it to review its decision. Miss B does not agree that it is reasonable for her to stay in her current tenancy and so she lost the opportunity to seek a review. The Council has reviewed its processes and trained staff. It has agreed that it will also apologise to Miss B, invite her to request a review of its decision and complete its review within one month of her request.

Summary: Ms X complained about how the Council handled her homelessness application. The Council delayed while making multiple referrals to another council, and it did not give Ms X information about how to request a review of its decisions to do so. However, these faults did not cause Ms X a significant injustice. The Council was at fault when it withdrew Ms X's homelessness application without her consent and cancelled her interim accommodation booking before the family had moved. This caused Ms X distress. The Council has agreed to apologise to Ms X. It has also agreed to review its decision letter templates and its arrangements for referrals to other councils, and to arrange staff training.

Summary: Ms B complains about the Council's lack of housing help when she approached the Council as homeless. Ms B says this has meant she is street homeless. The Council's consideration of Ms B's request was affected by fault. But, the injustice suffered by Ms B has been put right because the Council has tried to contact Ms B to look at her request for housing help again.

Summary: Ms X complains the Council has delayed in taking action following her complaint of damp and mould in her temporary accommodation. She says the problem is ongoing and is affecting her and her child's health. The Council was at fault as it delayed in responding to her initial complaint, and delayed in completing the required work to solve the problem. Although it has paid her £120 compensation for part of the delay, this is not sufficient to remedy the delay and distress caused. The Council has agreed to complete the required work and pay Ms X a further £200.

Summary: The Council failed to provide Mr X with accommodation when he asked for help when he became homeless. Mr X has a physical and mental health issues and had to sleep in a car for five months. The Council should pay Mr X £2500 to acknowledge the distress caused and risk to his health. The Council should also write to Mr X to apologise and take action to improve its services to ensure similar cases do not arise in future.

Summary: Mr X complains the Council has placed him in the wrong band on the housing register as it has wrongly decided he has not been resident in the borough for the last three years. There is no evidence of fault in the way the Council considered Mr X's application to join the housing register.

Summary: Mr D complains the Council gave him an incorrect email address and failed to reply to contact from him regarding his homeless application in 2018. The Ombudsman has not found any evidence of fault by the Council. He has completed the investigation and not upheld the complaint.

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